The present invention relates to animal containers and, more particularly, to animal containers that are portable and collapsible.
A variety of animal containers are currently available. Generally, the containers are designed to be strong enough to confine an animal and light enough so that they can be easily handled. To make the containers even easier to handle, some containers are also collapsible. The collapsibility reduces the volume of the container making the container easier to store and transport.
The collapsible containers are available in a variety of configurations. Some collapsible containers have rigid hinged collapsible walls which give the appearance of a suitcase when folded. However, these containers tend to be heavy and overly complex. Their weight makes these containers cumbersome to handle and their complexity invites component failure and increases manufacturing costs. Still other containers have a rigid telescoping design that is typically less complicated than the hinged collapsible containers. However, the telescoping rigid containers typically do not collapse as efficiently as the hinged designs and, therefore, take up a substantial volume even when collapsed. Further, the telescoping rigid containers are still relatively heavy.
Other lighter weight containers have flexible housings supported by a collapsible internal aluminum framing. The aluminum framing is provided with hinges and hinged foldable cross braces to allow the structure's collapse. Although this hinged design is relatively light, the aluminum framing is complex and the plurality of hinges and cross-braces invite component failure. The complexity adds to the time for manufacture and decreases the acceptable tolerances during manufacture, thus increasing manufacturing costs. The hinging of components alone makes the framing more expensive to manufacture and invites component failure. The hinged cross-braces may also be difficult to bend into an unlocked configuration permitting collapse, frustrating a user. Further, the forces required to collapse the container can create excessive wear and fatigue components of the framing resulting in a housing that is not taut or even leading to component failure, either of which lead to increased customer dissatisfaction. The internal hinged aluminum frame design is also relatively expensive to design and manufacture. Therefore, a need exists for a container having a strong, lightweight and simple construction allowing for efficient manufacture.
In addition, portable animal containers are frequently transported adjacent the rear hatch in sport utility vehicles. The hatch on sport utility vehicles typically has an angle to the floor of less than 90 degrees and, typically, the ends of animal containers are perpendicular to the floor. Therefore, a space is created between the animal container and the door when the top of the animal container abuts the hatch. This loss of space is amplified when transporting multiple containers. Therefore, a need exists for a container which has one or more angled ends to conform to the angle of the rear hatch and provide the maximum possible interior space for the animal within the container while most effectively utilizing the space available.
The present invention meets the above needs and provides additional improvements and advantages that will be recognized by those skilled in the art upon review of the following specification and figures.